The Role of Residents of Deteriorated Neighborhoods in Crime Reduction: A Case Study of Isfahan City

Abstract

Deteriorated urban neighborhoods, due to physical decay, weak public services, narrow and poorly lit passages, abandoned buildings, reduced natural surveillance, poverty, residential instability, and weakened neighborhood relations, are among the urban spaces that may create conditions for disorder, insecurity, and increased opportunities for crime. In such neighborhoods, punitive and police-centered responses, although necessary, are not sufficient to produce sustainable security, because a considerable part of crime-related problems is rooted in the social, environmental, and institutional structure of the neighborhood. This study aims to examine the role of residents of deteriorated neighborhoods in crime reduction, with a case study of Isfahan City. The research is applied in purpose and descriptive-analytical in method. It relies on the theoretical foundations of urban criminology, participatory criminal policy, social prevention, situational prevention, and crime prevention through environmental design. The findings indicate that local residents can contribute to crime reduction at cognitive, communicative, practical, and institutional levels. Identifying unsafe places, reporting crimes and violations, participating in the improvement of the physical environment, demanding street lighting and urban services, forming local assistance groups, cooperating with community-oriented policing, participating in urban decision-making, supporting vulnerable families, and using the capacities of mosques, schools, local councils, and facilitation offices are among the most important dimensions of such participation. The study concludes that crime reduction in the deteriorated neighborhoods of Isfahan requires a participatory, neighborhood-based, socio-spatial, and multi-institutional model. In this model, residents do not replace formal institutions; rather, they act as active partners in the collective production of neighborhood security. Sustainable crime prevention in these areas depends on rebuilding social trust, strengthening informal social control, improving urban spaces, protecting civic participation, and ensuring institutional responsiveness.